It's multi-round, and I want to keep it fast-paced and interesting. 3 full rounds of MGE would be a pain to spectate.

Got it, thank you.

Multiple. quick rounds is so that there are multiple maps and potentially multiple classes in play, depending on what the competitors choose. I want to keep it interesting to watch, and frankly I don't believe stock MGE meets that challenge.

At worst, you'd be forced to play the class for a single round. If you have superior aim/DM, you should be able to overcome them anyways. If, say, you win the first round as Soldier and they choose a Pyro ditto for the second round, the third round is always free-choice and you can counterplay any class they pick if you're truly the better player.

That does sound incredibly silly, but the only reason that would happen is, again, if one of the competitors chooses a Pyro ditto and the second one decides that it's best played on Spire. Class- or free class choice- is decided before the map, so nobody is going to be unexpectedly put into Pyro v Pyro Spire unless both people want it for some godawful reason. In which case, why stop them?

Like you said, it's not like the top players are Pyro/Spy mains who'd make it to the higher brackets are going to do something like that anyways. No reason to restrict something that'd be a non-issue for serious/strong competitors and a potential advantage for creative ones.

I see your point. Do you have a better recommendation for seeding/bracket?

Also, remember, this is MGE. It won't be teams playing, just individual players.

(I honestly don't know a lot about this, so if this is a totally trash idea I'm all ears for a better one.)

My idea would be to seed people against roughly equally-skilled players for the starting brackets. Say, 1 is the lowest skill level and 10 is the highest:

10/10 - 9/9 - 8/8 - 7/7 - 6/6 (and so on) would make the bottom bracket, with everyone matched as evenly as possible for their first round. Whoever moves up each bracket will widen the skill gap, so ideally it'll be fairly challenging for anyone who enters and this tourney won't be a thinly-disguised Froyotech donation run. It'll also leave room for upsets.

I'd prefer to leave that up to the competitors to decide. I feel like restricting Heavy, all Sentries and problematic-for-MGE weapons would keep things interesting enough, even if some guy decides it's time to pull out the Spy ditto for Round 2.

Hey, I'm Contra and I'm pretty much a nobody, but I had an idea for a tournament that I feel could show off an oft-underappreciated part of TF2: deathmatching and 1v1s. Those of us here all know this game has a lot of great mechanical depth for engagements like that, and I think with some custom rules and the right incentive, an MGE tournament could be interesting to watch!

This is me spitballing, so nothing is set in stone. For now, this is just an idea, but I'm going to list the rules/modifiers I had in mind for an MGE tournament, as well as a prizepool and entry fee.

Note that none of this is set in stone- and this might not even happen!- but I'm sharing the ideas to see if it's something people would be interested in. Feedback is welcome and encouraged!

Entry Fee and Prize Money

• Entry fee - $5 USD per person. Depending on amount of entrants, money will go to covering baseline costs (my initial prize pool + increasing the size of the prize pool + server rentals + etc). I'd be interested in working with a third party to manage this end of things, since I'm no business owner.
  
• Prize money - I'll put down $50 to start. 50% of the prize pool will go to the first place winner, 30% will go to the second place winner, and 20% will go the third place winner. The more people who enter, the larger the prize pool will be.

Game Progression
EDIT: Read this carefully before commenting. You aren't going to be forced to play a class you don't want to play for more than 1 round, even in the worst case scenario, due to how class-picking works. Class is chosen before map (so Pyro on Spire is pretty much not going to happen, since both players would have to agree to it) and even if a technically-inferior player manages to make a comeback with a ditto in Round 2, Round 3 is free-choice. You should be able to counter-pick any class they choose in this scenario if you are truly the better player.

• Round 1 - A coinflip starts the proceedings. Winning player chooses the class (ditto or free-choice) and the loser chooses the map. First to 10 kills wins.
  
• Round 2 - No coinflip. Loser of round 1 chooses the class (ditto or free-choice) and the winner chooses the map. First to 10 kills wins.
  
• Tiebreaker - Free-choice class. Random map. First to 10 kills wins.

Rules/Restrictions

• Classes - All classes allowed, except Heavy. Engineers, however, are not permitted to use sentry guns of any kind.
  
• Timer - Round 1 and 2 are allowed to run for 10 minutes, while round 3 will run for 5. Whoever has more kills at the end of the round wins. This is intended to discourage hiding or camping.
  
• Weapon Bans - Cloak and Dagger, Darwin's Danger Shield, status effect weapons (Mad Milk, Fan of War, Boston Basher) and any other weapons determined to encourage camping/prolong the game will also be banned. This is a 1v1 tournament, not a cheese fest.

Bracket System

• Single-elimination.
  
• With a twist: players will have ESEA/UGC profiles vetted to ensure no massive disrepancies in skill level exist between players at the beginning of the tourney.
  
• This means someone who just finished their first season of Iron won't be placed against b4nny for their first game. Even if you don't end up in the top 3, I want you to be able to have fun against equally-skilled players.
  
• Traditional double-elim, as noted by saam below, is probably the better solution.

And that's all!

I understand if this is a completely stupid idea, but I think it has potential. If it takes off, I'd look into getting semifinals/finals casted and emailing Valve to get an in-game annoucement when those brackets start playing and streaming.

I hope this idea isn't totally dumb, but it's something I'd like to see. Let me know what you think!

EDIT: and PLEASE run through the rules before you comment. many worst-case scenarios you're worried about either can't or won't happen with the current ruleset, and even in said worst-case scenarios, the better player should always win out in the end thanks to the tiebreaker.

that could be why, but unfortunately our option is just to theorycraft because valve won't tell us what they have and haven't looked at, what they specifically want or don't want out of a competitive format, and what feedback they're willing to actually use to improve

it's honestly infuriating to have a company that's ignored our scene for this long come in now, pretend they care now, and still refuse to change their shit competitive mode and highlight this travesty of a challenge cup while not giving us a peep of actual feedback

it doesn't feel more accurate overall, but now rollers are actually useful and can be used strategically, so for demomen who can aim it's a straight upgrade

the thing is we already did that (arena respawn is a recent example that comes to mind) and they paid no attention to it

At this point I don't even understand the point of this, and I'm an lolhl Spy Main.

6s main benefit is being fast-paced and easy to watch on a spectator's end. HL's main benefit is being able to run all your classes simultaneously, but at the cost of pacing and watchability.

Like Prolander before it, this just seems to have looked at both formats and taken nothing good from either of them. You don't get 6s speed or HL's diversity, but you do get a lower player count and awful pacing.

If this becomes our main format, I'll sudoku live on stream.

how does this event help TF2? what does it do for the scene at large? I guess it's great for the two teams who win this terrible challenge cup, but what about the rest of the participants? what about the spectators?

"pipelines are totally safe guys"

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/20/us/gas-prices-surge-in-south-after-pipeline-leak-drains-fuel-supplies.html

It's fun, but we need more people in the queue. @_@

I wrote a guide for anyone watching this thread that needs help getting in.

[I originally posted this on r/tf2 and r/truetf2.]

Hey there!

A while back, FaceIt announced that their service was coming to TF2. FaceIt is a competitive matchmaking/lobby/ladder system (even leagues!) with proper ELO/skill-based matchmaking and points that can go toward earning real-money rewards, such as a mouse, or in-game items.

For the time being, FaceIt's TF2 service is in a closed beta. However, tests are being run within this beta, and gaining access to it is actually quite easy. We'll discuss how to get that later in this guide.

First, let's take a brief moment to discuss the games you'll be playing in FaceIt.

The Games

For the time being, FaceIt is being run with a 6v6 lobby system. Unlike TF2Center, people don't choose their classes upon entering a lobby, and unlike Pug/Mixchamp, there is no process of captain or player selection. If you're in the queue, you're going to be playing soon. [There are, however, captains- these captains pickban maps on behalf of their team, and are picked based on level/experience.]

However, this means that classes need to be decided in-game. This is akin to Valve's Competitive Matchmaking, but FaceIt differs from Valve MM in that it actually has the proper 6s class limits, in addition to their whitelist.

In my experience playing today, people were willing to switch classes with one another and were friendly to newcomers. Make sure to spread the love if you choose to play, and if you're new, don't be afraid to ask questions! 6s isn't as intimidating as you may think!

Watch this 5 minute guide for a quick overview of 6s.

What You Need To Play

* A computer powerful enough to run TF2 and a single browser tab (for FaceIt) simultaneously, alongside a VoIP client (Discord, or Mumble if you're stacking with friends).
* A computer/connection fast enough to connect to the gameserver within 4 minutes of readying up.
* Discord! You'll want to install the application and set up the in-game overlay for TF2. To do this, go to settings within Discord and enable the Overlay. Then, go to Games and check "Team Fortress 2" on the list if it isn't selected already. Finally, if the Discord overlay doesn't work whenever you launch TF2, alt-tab out of TF2 (without closing it) and check the Team Fortress 2 box under "Now Playing". Most players won't want to use ingame chat due to poor voice quality and high latency in mic communication.
* A desire to play Competitive!

Getting Started

1. To get started, you'll need to open FaceIt and their TF2 Discord.
2. Next, sign up for FaceIt. To get into the TF2 beta, use the beta code "TF2FTW" or contact a friend within the beta for an email invite.
3. Now, click Play A Game on the right side of your screen, or use this link. Select "TF 2" as the game you'll be playing, the 6v6 queue, and either of the available Ladders.

When To Play

This closed beta test runs from September 20th to September 25th, starting at 3PM EST and running until 1AM EST the next day. So, there's plenty of time for you to hop in and play! EDIT: Actually, it looks like the tests are running all day for each of those days! Check in whenever you want! If you get your friends onto FaceIt, you'll also be able to queue together as a group or full time.

Added Notes

* Have fun! Players of many diverse skill levels will be playing, so don't feel too bad if you perform poorly. (Don't break your arm jerking yourself off if you're going on 6Ks, either.)
* Try to play around the team. People from pub TF2 or Highlander, like myself, may not be adjusted to the 6v6 whitelists and restrictions. Know that 2 Scouts/2 Soldiers/1 Demo/1 Medic are objectively the best choice for running to mid and making big pushes, but know that the offclasses have their roles! If a game isn't a one-sided roll, and they usually aren't, it's usually time for the Soldiers or Scouts to start switching around. Sniper and Spy can be used to make key picks to break a stalemate, while Heavy, Engineer and Pyro are ideal for defending last points. Always try to play what's best for the team!
* Don't be afraid to ask to switch/ask for advice! Any good player will be eager to help you improve at competitive TF2, and most skilled players have flexible class choices. Me, I can reliably play Scout, Soldier and Medic despite being a Spy Main. Just make sure you run the right classes!
* Ready up! Seriously, ready up before the timer runs out.